The present invention relates to containers useful as storage containers and as dispensers and applicators for soft and semi-hard products such as deodorant and anti-perspirant compositions, cologne, perfume sticks and other cosmetic preparations. More particularly, the invention is directed to a non-circular tubular container which includes a product elevating and retracting mechanism and is conveniently filled either from the top or from the bottom.
Many of the prior art container and applicator structures of the type having general utility in the area in which the present invention is useful are the type in which the tubular container is filled from the top or through the mouth of the container. Such top-filling processes have certain inefficiencies and are objectionable in that the final level of the upper surface of the filled product is not exactly controllable and that the surface contour itself is subject to roughness, irregularities, or uneven shapes in the area of ultimate application. Additionally, during the cooling process, the body of the filled material may contract producing an objectionable, concavity in the upper or applicator surface. Such a concavity impairs the utilitarian features of the applicator and adversely affects the aesthetic appearance.
Another objectionable feature of prior art cosmetic dispensers of the type including a product elevating and retracting mechanism is providing an effective seal between the product supporting and elevating platform and the circumscribing wall of the tubular container. For example, in order to facilitate the ease of upward and retracting displacement of the product it has been a common practice to form the container walls with a substantial flair or taper, thus producing an objectionable gap between the product and the inner container walls, resulting in excessive exposure of the product to solvent evaporation and other deleterious effects due to excessive contact with ambient air.
In those prior art containers and dispensers which may be filled from the bottom, the bottom closure and sealing mechanisms have not proven totally satisfactory in establishing air tight seals. Nor have there been adequate controls to ensure optimum positioning of the terminal, applicator end of the composition filling the body of the container. It is, accordingly, a principal aim of the present invention to obviate many of the shortcomings of the prior art applicators of the type described and to provide a simple yet highly effective structure characterized by improved bottom and top closures and seals, enhanced ease of elevating and retracting the product stored in the container, and an improved seal between the elevator platform of the product and the circumscribing wall of the container itself.